The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1887-12-22
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
The Weeks DOingS at the Ma
tiOnal Capital

NAVAL EXPLOSION.
There is a serious explosion coming shortly
In the Navy Department when Secretary Whit
ney will take action against the Clique which
has SO long ruled matters i'm the navy. some
time since a paymasteT who had been long at
tached 30 the Department found II necessary
for his health to go 10 sea, and being on the IN
side selected a ship on the home squadron,
because being so near he could frequently visit
his family aud be closer at hand in case his
health became worse and he wished 10 be de-
tached. The young Paymaster then IN the
ship had only been there a few months, and IL
was necessary 10 provide for him, as he bad
rights the customs of The service gave him. lie
was called TO Washington and was told that If
he would consent TO break out he would be
given a shore detail attic Naval Academy, and
credited also with full cruise. lthappened that
the Paymaster already az the Naval Academy,
had some wears ago served on board the Michi-
gan at Erie, Pa, aud thereby became intimately
acquainted with Representative Scott who is
alleged 10 be the close intimate of President
Cleveland and also OF Secretary Whitney. The
Paymastcr on the ship consented TO the trans
fer, and the one from the Department here was
duly ordered 10 the ship 10 relieve him. The
first Paymaster proceeded 10 his home IN New
Jersey, where he had left his family, broke mp
housekeeping chartered the necessary freight
cars 10 ship his household goods 10 Annapolis,
AutlOMlnE WIN Ills nnNHtNNiu EhNht Alu uhig
reported in person TO the superintendent of the
Academy, showing his orders 10 that effect.
After that fOrmality he proceeded to visit the
Paymasler he was 10 relieve, and after the
ordinary eordialities customary in the service,
asked when he could take charge and obtain
possession OF the house TO which Paymasters at
the Naval Academy are entitled. The sitting
Paymgstcr then produced later order direct
from the Secretary of the Navy, extending his
term OF detail at the Academy one year. The
Paymaster who was ordered there was thus left
very badly ia the lurch The freight cars con-
tanning his household goods were there awaiting
disposal his family was there with him, and
yet he found his orders revoked; he had been
81 broken out" Of his ship upon certain prom
Uses, aud found that his own orders had
been subsequently revoked by a higher au-
thority. What TO do he knew not. lie came TO
Washington and found that il was through Con-
gresham Scott that tAe change had taken place,
and the clique was utterly powerless TO aid him.
lie Is now serving temporarily upon a board,
but officially rs in q very bad fix. The matter
has come to the attention of the President and
the Secretary Of the Navy, and il is probable
that al a very early date, rs ] said above, an ex-
plosion viii take place which viii remove the
clique which has so long ruled the Navy De-
partmcnt in the matter OF details.
A SAILORS MIsHAP.
pA4N iAhAAiA vi "a hEdlhlAhE Ailt AAhh lhIuH-
men escape, is the readiness with which sail
ors SO utterly lose sight OF current matters at
home that one would suppose them thoroughly
posted upon. ii happened TO the writer "a lew
days ago TO meet an old navy comrade for the
first time for several years, and meantime each
had been abroad on long voyages. i asked
about his wife. My friend took occasion just
then TO look over at the flowers in the Treas
ury grounds, and i thought he did not hear
me. Meeting him again the next morning, 1
asked again about the wife, so that i might
leave my card, and was shocked TO hear then
that She had been dead for years. She had
died while was abroad and cut of from regu-
lar receipt of home papers, else j would have
known OF has loss long before. Once before,
years ago, a still worse contretemps OF the same
character Happened me. In 1873 j was in a
vessel in the far North, searching for the Po-
larls, and IN the Fail of that year some time,
do not know the date the French passenger
steamer La Amerique was lost at sea- with
many lives. Among those on board was the
wife and three children lall the family of a
navy officer who was one of my dearest friends.
Over year later j was at Norfolk whom a
noble irigate was about TO sail for the Brazils,
and dined ON board. My friend was the First
Lieutenant, and during the dinner, while a
merry chatter was going around the long table
j incidentally remarked 80 Jack where is
your family nOw?" Great heavens! what a
sudden silence followed. i looked around In
surprise, aud then at jack His head was
bent over his plate, but j saw, to my horror,
his eyes fiji fast with tears and then lac sud.
denly rose and went hurriedly TO his state
room. 4 have seen some strange sights, and
been through some startling Ordeas but / was
never in my life, before nor since, SO deeply
awed as at that moment. Then another officer
bent toward me and whispered: "They all
went down with La Amerique; not a soul il
left lint lack ~ Waf 4 "A
and one by one all went silently on deck
had never heard word Of the disaster TO my
friend, and only word Of the loss Of the shin
Al there Is any moral at all TO this little screed
u Is that one should be cautious, if he is a sea
farlng man, about asking too many question:
OF friends alter long absences at sea.
RETIRED OFFICERS.
Comment Is often made at the large mum
Der OF retired officers Of the army and nav,
resident IN Washington, and wonder grows a
70 why they should select this city as the
home think can tell the reader. A mar
leaving the home where he was reared. enter
3ng the service and serving 20, 40 or 80 years
ms the case may be- on his retirement think
has old home Us the only home for him. III
goes there and finds the men and women tba
he knew have OutgrOwn his recollection. .
have gone over TO the silent majority. an,
nc D. alohe-he Is stranger where once b.
81 LONELINESS grows over him aud his hear
aches for the sight OF old comrades. lie frs
takes his wife and child and runs 10 Washing
Ton FOR few weeks; the weeks extend !
months; he goes back home and then refurn
AGAIN, aud only one or two such trims serve 4
endear him SO much 10 Washington ana IN
companiOnshpo Of his old comrades that hetake
the little sayingsO his ifeand buys a home her,
where he settles down until the last cal tba
shall muster him out of service for an tim,
Thus II Is that much Of the good class of m
population Of Washington has grayiiated her,
THE McKIBBINs.
Gen. David b. McKibbin, u. S. Army
one OF those prominent figures one secs anon
the streets 81 Washington in these days. Fac
year since his retirement from active service !
the Regular Army he has spent his Winters her
ana Is welcome addition 10 the yearly grow
lng colony OF army and naval officers. He
one Of a very famous family. His father
now living ut Chambcrsbura Pa nj the 40
OF ~, and two brothers have been distinpuisbe
also d. the service. Col. Joseph C. Mex ibhir
VINO Is q resident Of Washington. was one I
INC hfsl Alds-oe-Camp with the rank of Cole
nel on Gen. McClellan's staff in 1861, whe
Mcclellan assumed command Of the army uno
Lleui.-Gen. SCOTS retirement Can't. Chan
bers Mckibben, now Of the 18th L. q I'M
D. the baby OF the family. There are other
but DO not rec0lect them now. The town
Chambefsburg where McKibbin Deye reside
D nnmcd after the reat-grandfathef of C;e,
MckIobn, who established and built nm IN
town after the Revolutionary war la ,ybich !